Piano



(No Model.) 3 Sheets- Sheet 1,

W. P. HAINES, PIANO.

No. 491,423. l Patented Peb.` '7, 1893.

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. UNITED STATES vPATENT OEEIcE.

VILLIAM P. HAINES, OF NEY YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO HAINES BROTHERS, OFSAME PLACE.

PIANO.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 491,423, dated February'7, 1893.

Application tiled May 11, 1892. Serial No. 432,649. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern/.-

Be it known that l, WILLIAM P. I-IAINEs, of New York city, in the countyand Stat-e of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Pianos, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description.

The object of the invention is to provide certain new and usefulimprovements in pianos, whereby the performer is enabled to convenientlyand readily render the piano mute for practicing and other purposes.

The invention consists of certain parts and details and combinations ofthe same, as will be fully described hereinafter and then pointed out inthe claims.

Reference is to be ihad to the accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification,

in which similar letters of reference indicate their rearmost position.

corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure l is a front sectional view of the imY provement on the line 1 1of Fig. 3; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional plan view of the pedalaction; Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the improvement on the line 33 of Fig. l, with the action removed; Fig. 4 is an enlarged transversesection of part of the improvement with the action in position; Fig. 5is an enlarged sectional front view of the pedal action on the line 5-5in Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the same on the line 6--6in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the locking bar for the pedalaction; Fig. 8 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the brackets anddamper rail, parts being in section; and Fig. 0 is an enlargedtransverse section of the damper rail.

The upright piano is provided with the usual keyboard frame A, on whichis secured a series of transversely extendingbrackets B, placed suitabledistances apart and connected at their upper ends by bolts O, with thestring frame D, held on the sounding board E, in the usual manner. Inthe several brackets B, at the rear and near their upper ends, areformed forks B', adapted to support and formguideways for alongitudinally eX- tending rail F, on which are secured pieces of damperfabric G, depending` from the said rail F a suitable distance downwardin front of the strings H.

Each piece of damper fabric G extends between two brackets and it ispreferably fastened in place at its upper end to the rail F by strips F,made of wood or other suitable material and screwed to the rail, as willbe readily understood by reference to Fig. 9. The rail F in its normalposition isin the upper end of the forks B of the brackets B, so thatthe depending part of the damper fabric G is out of the path of thehammers of the piano action so that the hammers can strike the stringsH, in the usual manner. When the rail F is moved downward,as hereinaftermore fully described, then the damper fabrics G are moved in the samedirection into the path of the hammers of the action,so that the hammersfirst strike the fabrics and the latter remain interposed between thestrings and hammers at the time the hammers are in The piano is thenmute. y f

In order to move the rail F up or down in the guideways ofthe bracketsB, the following device is provided c-The ends of the rail F arepivotally connected by vertically extending links I and l withlongitudinally extending levers J, J respectively, pivoted on brackets J2 supported on the base of the piano frame. The inner ends of the leversJ and J are connected with a pin K, extending upward from the rear orinner end of a pedal L arranged between the ordinary pedals N and N', aswill be readily understood by reference to Figs. l and 2. The severalpedals L, N and N are fulcrumed in a suitable frame O, in the front ofwhich is fitted to slide longitudinally a locking bar P, pressed on atone end by a spring Q attached to the piano frame. locking bar P, shownin detail in Fig. 7, is provided with two notches P and P2 through whichextend transversely the pedals L and N. The notcl` P is provided, in itslower outermost corner, with a rounded offset P3, and a lug P4 is formedon the inner wall of the said notch near the upper end thereof. Theother notch or recess P2 is formed in the rear outer corner with arounded offset P5 adapted to engage the under side of the pedal N. Nowwhen the pedal L is pressed its right-hand beveled side engages therounded off corner P3, whereby the locking plate P is caused to slide inthe direction of the arrow This lOO

ct; that is, from left to right, the pedal L at the same time passing tothe bottom of the notch P under the lug P4. At the same time that thistakes place, the longitudinal sliding of the plate P causes the pedal Nvto travel up the rounded-off corner P5, whereby the front end of thesaid pedal is raised and rests nally on the top of the said rounded-oicorner. When the pedal L is pressed, as before described, and looked inplace by the lug P4 of the plate P, then the rear end of the said pedalswings upward and, by the pin K, imparts a swinging motion to the leversJ and J which, by their outer ends, swing downward and by the links I,I', cause a downward sliding motion of the rail F, whereby the damperstrips G are moved into the path of the hammers. lVhen the operator nowplays the instrument the hammers strike the damper cloth or fabric Ginterposed between the hammers and the strings. The piano is then mute.When the operator desires to change the piano from mute to loud, he thenpresses the pedal N whereby the latter, on traveling over therounded-off corner P5, causes the locking plate P to slide in theinverse direction of the arrow a; that is, from the right to the left,so that the lug P* moves away from the locked pedal L so that the latteris unlocked and swings upward at its front end and downward at its rearend, whereby the levers J and J are caused to swing and by the links I,I cause an upward swinging of the rail F. The

dampe-r fabrics G are thus raised out of the' path of the hammers andthe operator, by continuing to play, sounds the strings by the hammersstriking the same directly.

Thus it will be seen that the operator without changing his position atthe piano can almost instantly change the same from loud to mute or viceversa. If changed from loud to mute by moving the rail F downward, asabove described, the said rail is locked in position automatically bythe locking plate P, as before described.

It is understood that as soon as the locking plate P has shifted fromleft to right to lock the pedal L, the operator can then remove his footfrom the said pedal as the latter is held in place by the lug P".

The rear end of the pedal L is weighted sufciently to overbalance theweight of the levers J, J links I, I', rail F, and the damper fabrics G,so that the rear end of the pedal L swings downward and holds the rail Fin an uppermost position whenever the said pedal is unlocked, as beforedescribed, and pressure is removed from the front end of the said pedal.

It is understood that the brackets B also serve to carry the rails andother parts of the action, the said brackets being made very thin andextended transversely so as to take up very little room as regards theaction.

It will be seen that the rail F is not liable to warp, as the rail isreinforced by the strips F which, in addition to their functions ofclamping the strips G in place, serve at the same time to strengthen therail. The rail F engages between the ends of adjacent strips F', theguideways B in the brackets B, so that warping cannot take place at thepoint where the strips F do not fully cover the rail F.

As illustrated in Fig. 8, the boltsC for supporting she upper ends ofthe brackets B are formed with nut-s C screwing on the bolts against theinner surface of each bracket B, so that the latter are held the properdistance from the string frame D. A soft material is usually placedbetween the nut C and the end of the bracket B.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent:-

l. A piano provided with brackets supporting the action and formed withguideways, and a rail mounted to slide in the said guideways andcarrying strips of damper fabric adapted to be moved into or out of thepath of the hammers, substantially as shown and described.

2. A piano provided with a series of brackets for supporting the action,and formed at their upper ends with guideways, substantially as shownand described.

WILLIAM P. HAINES. Witnesses:

ALBERT M. HAINES, WILLIAM J. BENTLEY.

